


When its Equal.

by Larisocelesissa



Category: Little Witch Academia
Genre: Amanda is a jackass, Buncha Plot, Canon Compliant, F/F, F/M, No Porn, Polyamory, Slow Burn, Witchcraft, diana is also a jackass, kindness and happiness, maybe some smooches and handholding, unrequited crushes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-05
Updated: 2017-07-31
Packaged: 2018-11-28 05:58:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 19,988
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11411676
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Larisocelesissa/pseuds/Larisocelesissa
Summary: Break the seal, change the world.They did that, they saved the world. They didn't realize just how deeply it would change their lives.What comes next?Also its very gay.





	1. FreeFall

For a while it was windy and loud, the ground below her a blur of color, above her a blanket of explosions. Her work was done, she’d pushed Akko and them as far as she could. Amanda liked the feeling of freefall for a long time, ever since she was old enough to fly on her own broom. The way her hair whipped around, the way the speed scarred her skin. The adrenaline that coursed through her body made her feel more alive than anything. The only thing that was different this time, was if she was going to make it this time. 

The missile had launched shortly after Akko used the world reconstruction magic. Amanda was the first to realize that Croix was unusually distraught, something was more wrong with her than usual. When they realized what had happened they didn’t have the time to think about coming back.

 _“0 juice left for me to go. Damn.”_ She forced back a laugh, even with the certainty of death she couldn’t be happier. _“Yeah, this is a good way to go out. Maybe I’ll get a statue. A big statue with lots of muscles.”_ She closed for eyes and let herself fall for a long while.

* * *

Jasminka wasn’t an idiot, she knew that her friends would want to do all they could to help Akko. As far as they were concerned, their entire lives depended on performing in that moment. Being at the back allowed her a vantage point to pick up what they weren’t thinking about. 

Constanze was the first to fall after Jasminka, the scraping sound of her rockets coming unhinged made Jas curl her toes up and frown. She darted off after the body of Constanze, still fussing with the handles that controlled her broom. That was the thing about Constanze, with all of her brains she never figured out what she’d do when she got in trouble. To simply prove that she could do it was all she needed to feel like she had accomplished something. Still Jas was worried that she wouldn’t get to her friend in time, she was falling quicker than Jas was comfortable with. 

“CONSTANZE” she hollered when she was close enough. “CAN YOU PULL UP?” A frown and a shake of her head. That broom was going to be beyond repair at this speed. Jas saw her friend hrm and haw about something, and before she could tell Const to not jump, Const jumped straight for her. After a moment of panic, Jas reached out for her friend and felt a satisfying thud shake through her arm. She deposited the girl on her broom. “Constanze you should be more careful, I don’t know if I could have caught you.” 

Constanze pulled a spyglass out of her pocket, and scanned the sky ahead of them all. An explosion of light faded, reds and greens hurt Jas’s eyes whatever spells Diana & Akko were casting were terrifyingly big. “Mmm!!” Constanze pointed and showed Jas through the glass where Amanda was frozen, falling rapidly towards the ground. Some.. 200 yards away if Jas had to guess. Jas adjusted herself on her broom and sped off toward her friend. 

* * *

“ _Is that, is that a mushroom? That’s a mushroom, jeez Manbavaran really had a backup plan for everything, doesn’t she?”_ Amanda stared at a purple blotch in the sky floating away from the raging magic above her. The power in that Shiny Rod.. the power that Diana must have been using, Amanda had a pit in her stomach. _“Come on you two, I didn’t wear myself out for just anyone.”_

“AMANDA” a voice sweet as chocolate called out to her, to her left Amanda saw the blurred figure of a broom coming right at her. “AMANDA STICK OUT YOUR HAND” A smile crept across her face. _“Suck it death”_ she held out her hand and within moments she felt her body slack against the absurd strength of her friend. Jasminka had always been able to lift the both of them for some reason, maybe some strength spell in her family. 

“Looks like someone didn’t give it her all like we all said we would. How could you possibly deal with breaking a promise like that, Jas?” She grinned up at her friend, who gave a drawn out sigh in reply. 

“I guess I don’t share the same lack of foresight you two seem to have, you could have thought about your own safety before we launched so high into the air.” 

“Yeah well” Amanda’s glanced to Constanze. “Heyy Conste, rad rockets, think that you're gonna be able to find that broom? I’d love to be able to give it a whirl.” Conste shook her head. “Ah. Sorry” Conste shrugged. “Hey Jas find us a place to land and watch whatever Akko and Diana are gonna do. No point going back Luna Nova until we’re sure we’ll have a school to go back to, eh?” 

Jas found them a shady cliff side mountain to land, a small clearing next to the thick forest that covered the mountain. Amanda threw her broom to the side, and shook away the cramped grip she had on it. Jas was doing the same while Conste fussed over a burn mark that had appeared on her hand. “Is that a mushroom landing on that mountain over there?” Jas asked, and sure enough Amanda could spy a purple mushroom being tossed aside. 

“Sucy has a plan for everything, we shoulda got some mushroom parachutes from her, eh Constanze?” Conste nodded in agreement. “I guess she and Lotte are safe, probably have the same plan as us, sit and watch those two be heroes.” 

Soon enough, they had settled down to watch what was happening above them. Akko frantically screaming out her spells, even from so far up you could still hear her. They watched Diana dart around, and finally lose grip on her broom. They watched as Akko had somehow caught Diana in midair, and rose far above them all. Higher than Amanda could even think of being, probably some world transforming magic. 

Then, they saw something amazing happen, above the faint scream of “AUDE FRAETOR”, so much magic was forming something in the sky. Amanda felt a warmth inside her chest, the last time she had felt this powerful she was fighting that boy at Appleton. Whatever was happening up there, Akko was changing the entire world. She heard Diana and Akko yell shiny arc, and she heard Conste gasp as the sky was filled with stars none of them had ever seen before. “Oh come on Conste you wouldn’t be surprised at a little magic huh?” Amanda raised an eyebrow and her friend. A pause, “You two feel that right?” and both girls nodded at her. 

“I can’t believe those two really just changed everything.”


	2. Yggdrasil

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Content warnings: big ouchies and mentions of blood, some aftermath of violence

“Claiomh Solias just disappeared? Just like that?” 

“Is that bad, Croix?” Akko was bruised in more places any of them wanted to count. They were lounging at what used to be the tower of Luna Nova, now overgrown after Akko said the final word. They were looking out at the sunset, it wasn’t so long ago that they set off after the missile, these last few hours just passed so slowly. Amanda glanced overhead, at the Sorcerer’s Stone, looking dimmer than she had ever seen it. “No I was just, I was just curious, I was wondering how this all was going to work. I spent so long working for the Grand Triskelion that I didn’t know what would happen after we got it.” Croix answered, letting out a groan as she shifted on her seat. 

“None of us would be able to know, I only knew of this magic as something from a fairy tale. To think that all of this was real? I don’t know if anyone has a plan for what comes next.” Diana said, fussing with a bandage she was tying around Chariot. 

“Yggdrasil was… is what we were trying to achieve for so long, can’t what comes next just be to enjoy it. Didn’t you learn anything from the words Croix?” Chariot said, gritting her teeth as Diana twisted a knot in her bandage. “Akko won, we won.” 

“I don’t think it’s that simple, Chariot.” 

“It can be, Croix.” 

“Maybe for you, but this doesn’t change anything. Who knows how long this tree can last, we don’t even know the rules of the game we are playing by.” 

Akko spoke up, “I just want to show the world how great magic is, and that’s what it took last time. We should travel around and tell everyone how great magic is! How great Yggdrasil is!” She smiled and looked out towards the sky for a moment. “Chariot! You can start up your magic show again! This time with an extra Yggdrasil infused punch haiiiiya!” Akko punched the air in demonstration and smiled at the room. Amanda snorted in reply. “Amandaaaaa, I’m being serious!”  
“And I’m being serious that you have no idea what you’re talking about, nobody knows what a dang tree wants. It’s a tree!” Akko frowned at Amanda. 

“Akko, you shouldn’t be worrying about this, you are still in school, you can’t just leave to figure out how to help. There is still so much left for you to learn” Lotte spoke up, concerned for her friend. Akko sat down, defeated. 

“Well, Chariot can still do her magic show again, right Chariot?” Akko smiled up at her idol, who looked away too quickly for it not suspicious to the whole room. “You can, right professor?” 

“She could if she was able to fly” 

“CROIX”

There was silence for a moment, Akko’s eyes were a wide as plates. Tears formed around the edges of her eyes. “I had my suspicions, the Wapagandea pollen?” Diana finally asked, looking up from her work. Nobody could bare the weight of Diana’s gaze for too long, Amanda had learned that the first week the two met. Her presence was larger than she had any right to, it didn’t take long for Chariot to nod. 

Akko dashed out of room not a second later. “Akko!” Lotte called after her, getting up to her feet and making to go after her friend. 

“No,” Diana stood up and put her arm in front of Lotte, “I think that this is something I should fix.” The room stared at each other, obviously the debate around what to do with Yggdrasil wasn’t going to go anywhere. As far as Amanda was concerned she’d done her part, she was fine with letting Croix and Chariot simmer at each other forever. Either the tree would live or it would die, they didn’t know what to do about it, and there was no point worrying when they were all riding blind. All Amanda knew was the fire in her chest was still going strong, she felt as strong and wild as ever, and that it pissed her off that Diana was the one that was running off after Akko. 

“Well I’d hate to ruin our group brooding, but I don’t think it was a smart idea to let Diana be the one to go reassure Akko. Have fun sniping at each other.” Amanda swung her arms over her head, and sauntered out the door. “I’ll see you back at Luna Nova Jasminka, Conste.” 

* * *

The steps of the Luna Nova tower could make you dizzy on a good day, but the damage Croix and Akko had done to it made it down right maze like. Amanda might have been able to count a half dozen steps that weren’t cracked, broken, or outright ripped out of the tower. She made her way down jumping from branch to branch, just like the top of the tower this part was also overgrown. She almost regretted not bringing her broom down, it would certainly make catching up to Diana a little easier. 

“It’s not fair! I was angry, and I Chariot tried to save me, and I didn’t want to be saved and it’s not fair! Why does she have to pay the price. I didn’t mean for her to lose her flight. I didn’t. I didn’t.” Amanda landed on a particularly thick root that had intersected the tower above them. Akko was sat down, leaning against the wall behind her, with her robe flung up showing a particularly nasty fresh cut, she must have fallen on her way down. Diana ripped a long piece of her skirt’s hem off and wrapped it around Akko’s leg while the brunette broke into a indistinct sobbing. She whispered a spell that felt warm to Amanda. 

“Shh Akko, Chariot made her own choice to save you. She made it of her own will because she loves you. She would make it again if given the chance, I know it, you know it. It’s okay to her Akko, you didn’t do anything wrong.” Diana pushed away from Akko, and leaned against the wall opposing Akko. Only now was Amanda able to appreciate just how worn out of the two of them were, Diana sported half a dozen cuts on her hands. Akko’s neck was swollen, and she’d probably have a deep purple bruise there for a week. Amanda could smell the blood and sweat that covered the two of them. 

“I know, but it’s still unfair, and it’s unfair that Croix manipulated me into climbing the Wapagandea tree but,” Akko forced down more tears and pulled her legs close under her chin. 

“But what?” 

“But,” Akko sighed, “I don’t know if I can be mad at Croix, wasn’t she just doing what she thought was right? That’s the only reason she’d do that to Chariot.” 

“Hmmm... Just because Croix may have had intentions that were ultimately good doesn’t invalidate what she did to you, Akko. We are not blameless for the consequences of our actions just because we thought it could correct all the problems of the world. You shouldn’t have to carry that anger inside you, Croix should serve penance for what she did to you.” Diana mimicked Akko and pulled her leg up under her own chin. Something that struck Amanda as odd, never did she think she’d get to see Diana so vulnerable. 

“Maybe. But. But if I held Croix accountable for what she did to Chariot… does that mean I’d have to hold Chariot accountable for what she did to me?” Diana let the silence hang for a while, deep in thought. 

“Oh!” Diana’s eyes went wide and she quickly shuffled to her feet. “I don’t have an answer on if you should be mad at Chariot or not, but we didn’t check if what she did still affects you. Come on, stand up.” 

“Diana?” Amanda thought Akko’s arms would be torn off with the force Diana used to pull her up. Diana pulled out her wand and collected herself, from her perch Amanda could feel the energy Diana had pulled around her. 

“Apigandia Wapandea!” Diana tapped her wand into Akko’s chest, and moments later a radiant pixie flew out of Akko’s body. The two of them stared at the pixie for a while, small and shining a brilliant yellow. 

“Diana… what does this mean?” Akko cocked her head to the side. 

“Akko, that’s your magic, you're cured! It means that someday you’re gonna fly.” Diana beamed. 

Akko was stunned speechless for a moment, the pixie retreated back into its host. “Diannaaa!!” Akko let out a bellowing wail, and embraced Diana, almost knocking her to the floor. The girls held each other in their sobbing, happy arms for a long time. However, their embrace carried, the sobbing had stopped but the two of them cradled each other even still. The seconds seemed to last forever to Amanda “one… two… three…”. Fifteen, Amanda had counted to fifteen seconds before deciding that moment had passed. She coughed and hopped down. 

“Hey Akko, Diana.” Amanda tried to strike up a conversation “Holding up alright you two? Better than this tower, eh?” 

The girls separated, “Oh uh, Amanda, hi, yeah we’re doing good. Diana said I’d be able to fly some day, better watch out. I’m coming for the both of you next relay race! I’m going for a gold medal this time and neither of you can stop me!” 

Amanda snorted, “Ha, right, please, it won’t even close. You’ll be hearing Wangari calling it a landslide victory for me.” She beamed at the two of them. 

The moment hung. 

“Uhm so, did you, uh, need something?” Diana asked, turning to face Amanda.  
“Did they need us back upstairs?” Akko asked, moments later. 

“Oh, no, they don’t,” Amanda paused. 

“Oh” 

“Yeah I just was done with the group brooding back there, decided to get out of here. Maybe catch some z’s, long day, gonna sleep for at least a couple days,” Amanda paused, “Uh yeah I was just gonna… leave, unless you needed something, Akko?” 

“Oh, no, I think I was going to go get Sucy and Lotte, I hope they aren’t worried about me. Have a good night, Amanda.” Akko smiled at her before turning and making her way back up the tower. 

“Yeah. You too.” 

Amanda ran from Arcturus to Luna Nova, now a much more peaceful journey. When she finally walked into her room, she collapsed on her bed and fell into a heavy sleep.


	3. The Next Day

It was a sunny six in the morning when Constanze stopped struggling against herself and opened her own eyes. Two hours before the class bells would ring, and two hours ten minutes before Jasminka would drag Amanda out of her bed. _“Honestly I should just comission Manbavaran to make me a sleep aid, it’s been four hours!”_ She pushed herself off of her pillows turned to the bunk bed next to her. _“Oh good, Amanda is still a solid ninety percent on the bed and her head still kind of on a pillow.”_ Constanze had woken up to it all, on a good day Amanda would have turned 180 degrees and be halfway through falling completely off the foot of her bed. The first week they shared this room Constanze woke to Amanda some how managing to sleep on both of their beds. 

The floor was cold on her feet, the fire spirits ended their shifts around three every morning and the next shift began a half past seven, so usually heat in the castle was at its lowest when Constanze woke up. She stood up and looked out the window, they had a view of the Jennifer Memorial tree for their room. It looked as gorgeous as ever, and it was just barely beginning to bloom. A service troll she knew was named Morten was out pruning a patch of Azaleas that gave her allergies. _“I wonder if I can pay him to just uproot them. I’ll put that on Stanbot’s to do list later, I should check my portfolio today. Perhaps I will do that during magical histo- why are there so many people on the courtyard right now?”_

Headmistress Holbrook, Professors Finnigan and Badcock, as well as several service trolls strode across the courtyard out to the leyline terminal. They looked laden with enough travel gear to supply them for a couple months. Moments later, Constanze saw Diana walk out with a service troll of her own. _“She barely looks put together, what’s going on?”_ On Diana’s right professors Lukic and Nelson were chatting with her, and both placed a book on the stack she already held. Constanze watched the group mill about until they mounted their brooms, all of their possessions obediently rose with a swish of their wands. A second later, the leyline ripped open in the sky and they vanished. 

_“I need to put on Stanbot a query to see what is going on, I guess that we don’t have to wake up in a hurry for magical history though? Lucky you, Amanda”_ Constanze thought as she gathered a bag filled with her toiletries, after that she stood on Amanda’s bunk and reached across Jasminka’s be to grab a cup she kept on the corner post of her bunk. The first week Constanze lived in this room she noted that Jasminka always woke up thirsty. It became part of her morning routine to get Jasminka a glass of water. 

* * *

It was half past seven when Jasminka stirred and opened her eyes a crack. It was bright, for a moment she longed to be back home, it was so much dimmer than it was here. She heard her door creak open, probably Conste coming back from the shower. She gave a low sigh and sat up in her bed. “Morning Conste,” she greeted her roommate, who replied with a smile. She watched as the girl walked over and fiddled with a bottle on her desk. 

A moment later Conste handed her a glass of water and her daily vitamins. “Thank you Conste, you didn’t have to do that.” Conste handed her a note after she put the empty glass down. 

> Headmistress and Professors left. No instructor remains for first period today.

“MMmm, I wonder if they will even have classes today then. I wonder how long it would take to get Luna Nova back to normal.” Jasminka looked at the window, the other side of the castle if where you got the best view of Yggdrasil but the gargantuan tree left an impression on the sky even when it wasn’t in frame. The entire sky seemed to be tinged with streaks of green, and the clouds didn’t dare come close to its branches. 

“I guess that we should go to the common area, maybe someone can tell us what will happen with our classes? If we have any. What time is it?” 

The Stanbot that hugged Constanze’s head piped up, “It is 7:54, lady”. Jasminka gave a long winded yawn and jumped down from her bunk with a thud. With a wave of her wand, her clothes obediently followed her behind their changing screen. “Your portfolios have changed 20 points, lady, recent events have left investors timid to move money. Its recommended to minimize risky spending in the coming months.” Stanbot chimed. 

“Oh that’s too bad Conste, I’m sorry,” Jasminka walked out from behind the screen and walked in front of Amanda’s bunk. You would have an easier time waking up a tasmanian devil than waking up Amanda. She was a heavy sleeper, and was prone to punching first thing in the morning. More than once Jasminka caught a foot or fist from the girl when they were late. Somewhere along the line Jasminka stopped trying to coax her friend out of bed the easy way, better to just do it quick, like a bandaid. In a fluid motion Jasminka scooped up the sleeping girl, turned a full 180 degrees and dropped her onto the floor. “Morning,” she said as sweetly as she could muster in the moment. 

“OW? What was that for!?” Amanda woke with a start, probably the first time she’s ever woke up this quick. Jasminka would have sworn Amanda could have slept through that if she wanted to, “Maybe I should have Stanbot remind me to do that tomorrow.” 

“Good morning Amanda, I hope you’re feeling good today. You were already asleep when we got back yesterday, good sleep?” 

“Screw you” Amanda stumbled to her feet and made her way bleary-eyed to their changing screen. 

* * *

It was quarter past 8 when the three of them left their room, the class bells didn’t ring, like Constanze had thought they wouldn’t. The hallways were littered with girls that were confused about why they apparently didn’t have classes today. Constanze hugged a new iteration of Stanbot that she was working on close to her chest, hoping that maybe the day would be free for her to perfect it’s locomotive functions. This Stanbot could run, well potentially, she’d gone through half a dozen prototypes and each ended up being able to spin in circles really fast. She was coming close to a breakthrough though, perhaps a free day is what she would need. 

As a collective, students poured into the common room, a part of the library that served unofficially as the announcements board from the Luna Nova staff. When she was eight Constanze’s parents took her to a concert, a small venue for a band called Three Windy Woman. Rock, if she recalled correctly, at the time her dad was still a party boy, from his jacket to his ponytail. Her mom in the car home that day told her that it was her dad’s care free partying that drew her to him. They had met in that very same venue, fourteen years ago at that point. Constanze didn’t remember much of the act, but she couldn’t not remember what her reaction was to when they walked out on stage. All at once it was loud, and bright, and everyone was moving, and her dad bumped into her. She lost the hotdog she was eating right on her pants. That was the day Constanze realized she didn’t like being in very loud crowds. 

The throng of students around her were so so loud, everyone had questions and gossip. At least twice she felt someone step on her foot in their haste to figure out what was going on today. _“We need a bigger auditorium for these announcements, maybe I could sugg--oW!”_ Constanze’s thoughts were cut off when a student smacked into her from behind. She was pushed roughly forward, she found a way to a wall on the left side of their hallway. Next to her a brown haired girl leaned against the wall with a knee kicked up, gazing at her. _“Where is Amanda and Jasminka? Weren’t they just next to me a moment ago?”_ All she could see was a mass of blue uniforms swirling around her. She couldn't hear herself think clearly, but she could hear a blonde haired girl recounting the details of her date for tomorrow. Italian, off the main downtown avenue, a boy named Curtis. Constanze felt herself slide down to sit on the floor, the inside of her mouth felt dry. Like there wasn’t enough moisture in the air to get to her, too many people breathing her oxygen. 

For a moment Constanze sat there, trying to collect her own breath, she’d read once that when you start to feel overwhelmed that you should breath through your nose. It proved harder when everyone around you was stealing the air from the room. A nose couldn’t match a higher suction power of the mouth, screw you Candice Gardina science has the key for getting air in your body! Another girl, a couple feet away was talking to her friends about a hard to parse chapter in her linguistics class, the language of plants or something. Conste’s chest was burning, she forgot to breath, she gasped a couple times and started hyperventilating. She felt pins and needles creep through her legs, were they going asleep? They couldn’t be going asleep, not here. She had to get back on her feet, if she didn’t she would be stuck here until she died of oxygen deprivation. She felt her heart thudding in her chest in a moment, and pushed herself onto her feet and walked into the crowd.

Her feet felt like rubber, like she couldn’t tell them where to move, she couldn’t get them to step where she wanted them to step. Her breaths still came to her hard and she felt like she was on the verge of a coughing fit. She wasn’t right, she should have let herself die of oxygen deprivation, at least it was colder on the floor, in the throng of students she felt their hot breath on her back. Oxygen that she wouldn’t have the chance to breath, the hall felt like a furnace to her. Finally she just stopped. Her legs wouldn’t move. Like her Stanbot prototype she had lost her locomotive functions. “Note to self, if I’m still alive in 30 minutes, research if this is what oxygen deprivation feels like. Also: buy oxygen tank, or robot arms that can push people aside. Seriously why can’t I move?” 

The next moment Cosntanze was aware, she had fallen flat on her face, a girl she recognized from the broom disc team had collided with her from behind. She heard her Stanbot clatter to the floor, she looked up in time to see someone’s foot trample over it. 

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA” Constanze shrieked. On all sides of her people separated, and Constanze felt a pressure lift off her chest for a moment. Until she realized half a dozen people were staring at her. “Uhhh” 

“Constanze?” Conste spotted Amanda stepping out from the crowd. _“God, how does Amanda do that?”_ “Hey Constanze, give me your hand.” Amanda held out her slender hand, and offered her a private smile. Constanze gripped Amanda tight enough that she knew she was probably hurting her, but Amanda didn’t grimace. Amanda was a skilled navigator of crowds, she had the presences to walk where she needed to walk. A couple of turns Constaze saw the table her friends had claimed as their own. Akko was cross legged in the middle of the table, some things never change. 

“You found Constanze” Jasminka piped up, Constanze found herself a chair next to her and Lotte. 

“Yeah, but I think her Stanbot is fried.” She said, picking up the smashed bits of the bot. Constanze didn’t even recognize that Amanda had scooped it up retrieving her. She took the bot from her friend and scanned the damage, the entire circuit board was cracked down the middle. 

She wrote a note down for Amanda 

> Thanks?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the Kudos, readers.  
> I'm running out of prewritten work, so tomorrow's chapter will probably be the end of daily updates.  
> xoxo


	4. Changes

Amanda rubbed the inside of her palm, Constanze had a vice like grip on her hand the entire walk to their table. That girl could be a splendid broom dancer if she wanted to, Amanda thought back to a time when she tried to get her friend to do it. Jasna had to dump a bucket of water on her after Constanze said no, that’s when they let Jasna be in charge of the matches. 

“Aaaaaa come on, when is someone going to come out and tell us what's going on. I can’t wait any longer” Akko flung her back backwards across the table. 

“I knoww, why did I even get out of bed for this ugh.” Amanda echoed, she could be back in her bed instead of waiting for an instructor that would probably just give them a free day. 

“Do we even know why our instructors left?” Jasna piped up. 

“Diana said that they were leaving for an international summit that was suppose to begin tomorrow.” Lotte pulled a note out of her breath pocket and handed it to Amanda. 

> __
> 
> Akko, 
> 
> I was informed late last night by Headmistress Holbrook that the international community was knocking at Luna Nova’s door to answer for Yggdrasil. Her and some senior staff will be departing to address the Prime Minister tomorrow and to make public statements in the coming weeks. 
> 
> Luna Nova will be headed by Professor Nelson & Lukic. Chariot and Croix are on academic probation, and their future at Luna Nova has been called into question by not only Luna Nova staff, but the olde Witch Families. Croix in particular may face criminal charges by our host country. I guess even if you can’t find it in yourself to blame her for her actions, others don’t have the same hesitation. 
> 
> I’m departing early this morning to go back to my family’s estate. Don’t worry, I’m not going to end my term at Luna Nova, you don’t have to come dragging me back. I wouldn’t be satisfied unless you proved yourself as my rival. My presence has been requested by the Olde Witch Families, I will speak on behalf of the Cavendish family. You may even see me on the news, if we allow our meetings to be televised. After that, the Hanbridge family has invited me into their home for a week to talk about relations between us going forward. 
> 
> Changing the world has many responsibilities, wish me luck. Don’t slack on your studies, I expect to come back to an Akko that can cast a half decent spell, and I don’t want to be disappointed. 
> 
> -Diana Cavendish,  
>  PS., it might be useful to attune yourself to the new ways magic works. I know you can feel the power Yggdrasil is giving you. Nelson will talk to you about controlling how much magic you put into your spells going forward. Let’s hope Luna Nova isn’t transformed into something horrifying by a spell gone wrong.

“God, if you ever thought her ego couldn’t get any bigger, they put Diana on TV. Kill me now.” Amanda grinned at Akko, crapping on Diana was always a favored pastime of hers. 

“Oh, Professor Nelon.” Lotte spoke up and pointed to their instructor. As if on command as cacophony of shushing noises swept over the students. Amanda always favored Nelson, even if she always chided her about being so reckless with her broom. But both of them had the same need to be in the air. 

“Hello students, sorry for the confusion today,” Nelson began “As some of you may know Headmistress Holbrook was asked to leave Luna Nova late last night to join an international summit. For the following weeks, Professor Lukic & I have been placed in charge of Luna Nova, but let's get down to the good stuff. Yesterday as you all know, a group of our own caused Yggdrasil, a magical tree from the golden age of magic.” Nelson paused to drink from the water she had on her podium. 

“Starting today your magical education changes, the advent of Yggdrasil means that there is more magic in the air…” Amanda leaned forward and rested her head on her hands and closed her eyes, “...we want you to spend the day in small group going over page 14, sections 27-34. We will have staff going around ensuring safety as we come into understanding this new element of magic.” Nelson speech ending triggered a flurry of activity that woke Amanda with a start, Akko practically sprung off of her table and dashed towards a stack of books. 

“Uhhhhhhh…” Amanda groaned, “Someone fill me in?” 

“Yggdrasil made it so we didn’t need to Sorcerers stone, but it also made it so our emotions would alter spells.” Sucy said, fiddling with a beaker filled with some sort of orange liquid. 

Lotte cleared her throat, “Nelson and Lukic found some books from the Golden Age of Magic about balancing your intentions with your magic.” 

“Oh” Amanda said, “So what does that mean?” 

* * *

Jasna traced the spine of the old book, it was cracked, dry, but she could tell the book was built with care. The embroidery was a pale silver, its shine diminished from the thick layer of dust that's been sitting on it for a long time. _“The Fundamentals of WitchCraft - How our Intent changes reality. By Agatha Harkness”_ Jasna hadn’t heard of Harkness before, she wasn’t in any of their current curriculum, while that wasn’t surprising it made Jasna’s heart skip a beat. The three of them were about to open a piece of history that has been closed off to the world for longer than any of them could remember. Magical history was Jasna’s favorite class because all she was required to do was sit and listen to fantastical stories. On long days sometimes Professor Badcock would even let her get away with snacking on a bowl of popcorn. There was just something different between hearing stories of people that changed the world and cracking open a mundane book to learn how they used magical. It just made everything more concrete, their history wasn’t just a story to enjoy. 

The ground under here felt wet, which wasn’t unexpected the morning dew takes a lot longer than an hour to evaporate. Jasna pushed herself higher against the oak she was leaning on, a large tree with a lot of shade some fifty paces away from Luna Nova’s castle. Jasna and Conste never really liked being outdoors but Amanda became anxious if she stayed pent up so they just learned to deal with it. It was a pretty day though, absolutely the most unique sky she would ever look at. It was still blue if she was going to define a color that shown through, but Yggdrasil’s radiant branches tinted the sky to a sea green. 

The book made an audible creak when Jasna opened it, the pages also had dust caked over them. She turned the book away from her friends and tried to blow out the dust as best she could, she thanked the gods that she didn’t suffer from asthma. “Oh, maybe we should warn students that they shouldn’t open books to quickly. I’ll do that when I put it back.” 

The spell they were going to cast was meant to be wordless, it was suppose to help them regulate the energy they were throwing out into the world. The goal was to make their energy kinetic and visible, and they were suppose to shape it into something that represented them. An illustration on the book showed an older woman holding a four pointed star between her hands. 

“Okay who wants to go first here? It says we have to be able to do it on our own and then I think the later in the section is says we should do it together.” Jasna looked around to her friends. 

“Ohh? Why don’t you try it, Constanze?” Amanda said. 

Jasna glanced at the smaller girl, for a moment she thought about trying to skip today and maybe they could try the spell tomorrow. However, Constanze didn’t seem to be in the mood to call it a day at all, instead she looked like she had fire in her eyes. That wasn’t entirely unexpected, Jasna didn’t think she could put a puzzle in front of the girl that she wouldn’t eventually solve. Constanze was so driven with her magi-tech pursuits because fusing magic and machine was a puzzle all on its own. 

Conste took a long breath and closed her eyes, holding her hands out as if she was holding something. A soft breeze picked up and ruffled the girl's hair, not that there was much to be messed up. It took almost 10 minutes for something to happen, it was faint Jasna could barely make out a cloud of green magic hugging Conste’s small frame. The air grew thick and seconds seemed to pass by slowly, any moment now. At first it was a spark, brilliant and glowing like a fire, but it faded just as quickly. Conste let out an inaudible gasp and glared at the space between her hands and an for a second it was too bright for Jasna to look at. Conste’s essence was rich and orange, a depiction of the solar system rotating around their sun sat between her hands. Even Amanda sat up to take notice, Jasna imagined anyone around would be drawn in by Constanze right now. The faint cloud of green energy that was hugging her now shone brightly, like a miniature sun sitting next to them. Constanze stayed like that for five minutes before the two of them became concerned. 

“Constanze? You can let it go now okay? Constanze?” Jasna reached out for her friends hands, Conste’s eyes were slack and she was so pale compared to the green light around her. “Conste, can you hear me?” Jasna glanced at Amanda. 

“Hey Conste.” Amanda didn’t have the same reservations and seized Conste’s arm. “ACK” both Amanda and Conste yelped at the same time. Jasna saw the power Constanze was channeling run up Amanda arm, and they released arms immediately. 

“Conste. Amanda. Are you guys okay?” Jasna grabbed their arms with their hands, they were pinky and puffy but they didn’t look like they were too bad. No burning, no scarring but both of the girls winced like they had been stung by an angry wasp. 

“It’s fine Jasna, just a little shock” Amanda snatched her hand away from Jasna, and examined her hand. “You got me good Constanze, but it looked like you got it right?” Constanze gave a thumbs up in reply, and flopped down on her back. 

“Okay well, I think that might be enough for today huh? Try again tomorrow?” Jasna said. She stuffed the old book back into her bag, perhaps tomorrow they could figure out a way to not only do that but stop doing that. Still though, she had to admit by how impressed she was of Constanze. That was her way though, put something in front of her and punched through it, for a second she felt a twinge of jealousy. “Oh, I almost forgot, I made something for us today” Jasna pulled out a bowl of something puffy and garlic. 

“Oooooh, that smells great Jasna, lemme at them” Amanda sprang towards the bowl, and it wasn’t long until the three of them were munching down on the Jasna’s garlic puffs.


	5. The Summit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> POVs are Amanda and then Constanze

If you went down the west hallway of the library you would find a row of private study rooms. All with tables and couches and some of the bigger ones had a fridge and sink for study groups to use. Usually the bigger rooms were full, especially on Mondays when the girls were cramming for a test that was going to happen later on in the week. However today one of the rooms was clear, a weirdly octangular room with an L section couch and a small little counter top. Constanze and Jasna were fiddling with the antennas on a small TV Constanze had snuck into Luna Nova a couple weeks prior. Tho, how she was barely able to smuggle a small TV into Luna Nova while maintaining a workshop fit for a massive flying ship baffled Amanda still. The six of them had piled into the room because today the headmistress was appearing in front of the international committee to discuss how they were going to deal with Yggdrasil. 

“Akko, are you ever going to put that book down?” Lotte asked, fiddling with her crystal ball. Amanda has seen Akko this intent on spells in the past, first at the Samhain festival and later when she was working on recovering the Words. Akko could give Constanze a run for her money when it came to determination, except this time Akko wasn’t actually terrible at it. Sure she couldn’t manifest what Constanze could two days ago but more than once Akko managed to manifest a spark of rose shaded energy. It was better than Amanda could summon, the skin on her fingers were cracked from the hours she’d spent trying to channel that energy earlier. 

“No! I’m so close, ahhh, maybe I need another example Constanze???” Akko batted her eyelashes at Constanze. 

“Constanze says sorry but no,” the Stanbot on Cosnte’s head replied. 

“Awww come on Conste, I’ll do your chores for a week! It’ll be worth your whileee”

“That’s a definite no.” 

“Akko are you braindead do you really want to get zapped again? Last time you got Conste to do it you couldn’t use your arm for an hour,” Amanda said, kicking her legs over the back of the couch. “Besides, no one believes a dunce like is gonna rise to the top of the class” Amanda stuck her tongue out at Akko. 

“Amanda, that's not true!” 

“The part about you being braindead is” Sucy said, separating some bluish liquid into several vials.

“SuCy!”

* * *

The summit aired on a channel reserved for official government broadcasts, on most days it was static for 12 hours. Miranda was sitting at a podium, they chose a bright wood tone that matched the rustic colors that headmistress was usually drawn towards. The six most powerful men in the world sat before her for, presidents and ministers of the free world. Behind her, a sea of representatives of companies, corporations, media milled about trying to find their seats. The energy in the room must’ve been monumental, for a second the camera flicked over a group of business men. Constanze’s parents looked like they were good health, sitting next to a bald man she recognized as one of her dad’s pool buddies. 

“Please, everyone take your seats, the Summit will begin shortly.” a short man, the prime minister of their host country said. The prime minister was sat in the center of the table, a spot befitting the country’s political power. When he spoke the energy of the room became a hushed restlessness, most of the conversation had died down and many journalists fussed with their notepads and recorders. When it was silent a stout northern man cleared with throat and addressed the room,

“Today we open a discussion to determine the cause, effect and response the United Nations will have to the Yggdrasil event. We will also determine the changes in power and policy in Witches’ Rights, and if Luna Nova has committed a crime against the international community. We have Headmistress Holbrook with us today to discuss Luna Nova’s part in the missile crisis, the mass spell that affected our citizens and Yggdrasil. We will be discussing persons of interest Croix Meridies, Chariot du Nord, Diana Cavendish, Atsuko Kagari, Lotte Yanson, Sucy Manbavaran, Constanze Albrechtsberger, Jasminka Antonenko, and Amanda O’neill. I’d like to remind you all that today is not about deciding what to do, but to collect and understand the facts of what happened, and what comes next. With that in mind I open the floor to President Kenyatta to carry out the investigation.” 

An imposing figure to the left of the Prime minister put down a glass of water he was drinking, “Headmistress Holbrook, I believe it is imperative to hear your opinion on the olde witch family’s determination to not broadcast their conference.” 

“I do not speak for the nine olde families or any party aside Luna Nova.” 

“I insist” 

“They are free to do as they please. 

“So you would allow them to hold information that the public might need to know?” 

“If it is so important to you, I believe it is still law that Witches are allowed to not broadcast their own self governance. Especially if it does not cross international borders, the families hold meetings often, would you like to pay for the broadcasting for every meeting they hold?” Miranda was cool under pressure, Constanze knew that, but to face down a president without cracking impressed her still. 

The man shifted in his seat and took another drink of water. “Fair enough, let's move on. I believe most of us are still in the dark, and if my information proves accurate you are the last person to have seen Yggdrasil before it reappeared. So please educate us, what exactly is Yggdrasil?” 

It was Holbrooks turn to shift in her seat, “I was perhaps a young five years when Yggdrasil disappeared, I wasn’t old enough to remember exactly what it was. Supposedly it was a tree that was the source of global magic to the Witches from the Golden Age.” 

“And what does that mean” 

“It means that Witches can cast magic from anywhere on the planet” 

“Is that all?” 

“We are researching the other changes Yggdrasil will cause for Witches going forward, all we know now is Witches can cast from anywhere without needing an energy source.” 

“So Yggdrasil is an artifact that gives Witches an almost infinite source of power to use at their disposal, and when exactly did you think to let us know this was going to happen? You must understand, this development looks like a powerplay to put Witches at an indescribable advantage compared to ordinary humans. No preparation for something like this and you’ve put all of us at risk.” 

Miranda took a long drink from her water, “And were we supposed to do, let that missile hit a city?” 

“A missile that was tampered with magically?” Kenyatta leaned forward in his seat. 

“Mr. Kenyatta, I cannot help you or anyone else with idle chatter. If you having something to say can you just say it, in this current time we can’t let a game of whodunit confuse us. Luna Nova is committed to working with the international community to find a fair way to conduct going forward.” Miranda replied. 

President Kenyatta leaned forward in his seat, the chair made a sharp creaking noise under his weight. Finally he spoke, “But that’s the thing, how are we to know that Croix Meridies didn’t mastermind and enact a terrorist attack at the behest of the Witch community? You must admit, it’s a compelling story: create a terrible attack, give the public a group of “untrained students” to cheer for as heroes, and bring back the most powerful object in Witch history. Not only does the Witch community benefit globally, but you groom 6 heroes to pass on leadership to eventually. How convenient that Ms. Cavendish be at a meeting with the nine olde witches right now when she does not speak for the Cavendish family -at what, 16?” 

A flurry of sound broke out as journalists furiously wrote the exchange down, “And how possibly could Luna Nova orchestrate a plan like that? What would bring you to possibly to accuse us of something so absurd, furthermore Diana Cavendish is the rightful heir to the Cavendish name it would be like you not being on that desk. What happened is what happened, a group 7 powerful girls took down a mistakenly fired missile, and in doing so saved countless number of lives. I suggest you make peace with that instead of perverting an act of heroism.”

“We know of Noir Fuel Spirit. We have proof on how that missile was really launched Holbrook.” next to her, Amanda scowled, even Constanze had to think about how badly she wanted to slap Kenyatta. 

“We are dealing with Croix, but as we speak she is under medical treatment.” 

“We? You mean, the Witches are dealing with Ms. Meridies, and I believe that she should be dealt with by us.” 

“That’s not how this has ever worked, Croix is a witch and the witch community is most suited for determining her punishment, especially during these new global circumstance.” 

“No, that’s not what the world is going to accept anymore. I propose to all present the following solution to our Yggdrasil problem, our Croix problem, and the problem regarding future relations between nations and Witches. First, we replace leadership at Luna Nova and implement a system that balances the power of the nine olde families by having them answer to a select council of World Leaders. Second, the state that a crime was committed in will have the full authority to try and sentence Witches with the full cooperation of the Witch Community. And finally, the use of magic outside of prior magic rich areas will be limited for the safety of citizens.”

The conversation from then broke off into yells and scrambled conversation, until Lotte finally stood and muted the television. “I don’t know about you all but I don’t like hearing words meant to be nasty, maybe we should find something else to do.”

Constanze was hit by a wave of exhaustion, only now did she realize how forward she was in her seat. Not that anyone else was different, Amanda was so far forward she decided that it would have just been better for her to stand up. They all sighed in unison, as if Lotte had released a steam pipe, Akko slouched back in her seat and put her hands to her temple. 

“Who the hell does that guy think he is, thinking he’ll be able to mess with Luna Nova so badly. And what’s with this making it look like we launched a freaking missile, what were they doing the entire time? Keeping their hands warm?” Amanda finally spoke up, stretching up to her full height. 

There was a pause between the six of them, a plume of blue smoke rose out of one of the vials Sucy was playing with earlier. The smell of burnt Redwood made Conste blink the tears out of her eyes. “Sucy! What was that?” Lotte complained, getting up to open the door to the hallway. 

“Oh, sorry, it’s nothing dangerous this time I promise. Might make you a little sleepy though, whoops.” Sucy looked through the now suddenly purple liquid that filled her vials, deciding the batch was rubbish she tossed it into the trash. “Guess I’m gonna have to delay your sleep solution, Conse.” Constanze gave a thumbs up in reply, covering her mouth with her shirt. 

They set about ventilating the room from the sleep gas in silence, with the only casualty being Jasna, now silently snoring next to Constanze. Amanda and Akko had both taken the chance to nab the full bowl of Jasna’s pepper crunchies while they could, it was rare that Jasna made these so it was highlight to get so much of it at once. 

“So, here’s what I don’t get. Why do they want to get Croix so bad? Whats even stopping them?” Akko finally asked, wary of her own ignorance. 

“Oh,” Lotte paused to chew on her lip, “Before the Golden Age of Magic Witches and the nations made a treaty that the Witches would administer judgement on their fellow Witches and they would be left alone about their decisions. They decided that non-witches wouldn’t be able to handle the court cases or costs to figure out how to make a bad witch do her time. I guess with technology now it doesn’t matter and they think they can handle Croix.” 

“Oh. Okay! Then we testify in front of them make them realize that Croix can’t be punished for the missile crisis.” Akko declared, beaming at the six of them. Just a few short months earlier Conste had been taken in by that patented persuasion tactic. The four of them knew just by looking at her that they were going to be talked into testifying before the six most powerful men in the world. 

“That would be a mistake and a waste of time, those men don’t want to listen they just want to squabble over who has the power. Save your breath for someone more willing to listen, Akko.” A sharp voice that commanded attention called from the doorway. Diana’s hair was windswept in the way hair got when you flew too fast for too long, and her voice sounded breathless and raspy. Hanna and Barbara peaked out from behind Diana, both looking about as uncomfortable as they possibly could be going into a room with people they had tormented for so long. 

“Diana? Why are you here? Weren’t you supposed to be at the meeting of the Nine Olde Families?” Akko asked, shooting a welcoming smile at the three of them. 

“What, so mad you weren’t on TV you came back?” Amanda pretended to cough, Sucy choked back a laugh and shoved an elbow into Amanda’s side. 

“How did your talk with the families go? Do you know what's going on with the summit?” Lotte scooted over and beckoned the three girls to take a seat. 

“Apparently, thought I’m ‘incredibly talented’ I am simply ‘too close’ to the matter for a ‘child that should be focused on her education’ and they decided to not hear what I had to say at the meeting. I have been ‘recommended to stay out of the limelight to recovering from my traumatic event’ and they had the audacity to tell my aunt to look into getting me therapy even.” Diana broke off into a series of silent swears about a grey haired woman.

“You’re joking?” Amanda said “You’re joking.” She asked again, a smirk cracking over her face. “You’ve got to be joking.” Amanda fell backwards against Sucy as if this was the funniest thing in the world. 

“Amanda, Sucy.” Lotte shot a withering look at the two of them. 

Diana smiled at Lotte, “From what I hear they are giving Luna Nova the recommendation to do that for every member of the missile event. I don’t know if Luna Nova is going to do that but I don’t think Holbrook will impose on us. Regardless, they asked for me to be removed from the meeting until they have need of me, when I become the Cavendish matriarch I will have them removed from the meeting I swear it.” 

“And so you came back, straight back? Weren’t you suppose to see the Hanbridges?” Akko asked. 

“Mmm, I thought they would accept me but currently they are at the international summit, I will have the reconvene with them later. Is that the Summit now? Diana gestured toward Constanze’s television, Akko leaned over to unmute the sound. 

“After a heated argument broke out between Headmistress Holbrook and President Kenyatta earlier today, the Luna Nova representative has been asked to step down and Luna Nova leadership be a government-appointed office. Negotiations are still coming from the Summit now, and it’s not confirmed the summit will vote on this but the Nine Olde families have been asked to make an appearance. It was decided earlier that the families would not have their meeting on Yggdrasil be public. Your opinions have been coming in all over the web as surveys are showing a, well, pretty even divide on…” Akko pressed the mute button on the screen again, and turned to Diana. 

“I don’t know if Holbrook will be able to make any choices that affect us soon enough, they are saying this was an attack made by Witches for more power..” 

“They also said we were being groomed as heroes to take office in the future” Sucy chimed. 

Silence fell over the room, until Barbara coughed, “Okay, uhm, not to chide or anything but uh… are you guys really just gonna say you're okay with this? You risked your lives fighting a missile, stopped an international incident from a _terrorist_ and changed the world. And you’re all still going, Diana mentioned therapy and two of you laugh it off? Where are your parents, why haven’t they called? Magic has been changed and no one can figure out how to make it work and you seven are still going? It doesn’t.” Barbara bit off the end of her rant, eyes raised in bewilderment. “You guys need to stop and rest.” 

“My parents have been calling to tell me I need to come back hom.” Lotte admitted, “I haven’t because I thought I should stick around.” 

“Yeahh, same with mine, the rest of you the same?” Amanda asked

It was true, Conse’s parents weren’t exactly the most attentive of her but even they had logged a request for her to come home. Even Sucy was nodding her head and Conse wasn’t even aware of the concept that Sucy could have parents, perhaps she could have been some spirit that made itself out of spite. 

“Go to your families, get some rest, figure out what’s next for yourselves. You will still have each other and Luna Nova later. I can’t believe you all have put this off for so long.” Diana said. 

One by one they separated from that little group, an uneasy not wanting to be in that room any longer killing the mood. Conse messaged her parents that she would arrive at the estate late tomorrow, and spent the evening packing for the long days ride tomorrow. She even shaved off a couple hours that would have been spent refueling the magic in her broom. The convenience of Yggdrasil knew no bounds. 

And in the morning, Conse and Jasna hugged each other. Jasna told her to be safe and tied a small meal for lunch around a loop on her shirt. Conste didn’t stick around to see Amanda wake up, but the three of them had already said when they would be back from their families.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, decided I didn't like how the chapter ended so I added some more.   
> Next chapter should be a little bit off cause I'm going to Seattle.   
> Sorry for what essentially is a re-post but I mean it's basically another chapter lmao.


	6. Family

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which we learn that we absolutely need a fic thats just amanda raising horses on Cavendish ranch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I updated the ending of chapter 4, if you didn't read it I would go back and read it.

Amanda remembered reading about a civilization of Islanders that sailed across the sea, they called the act of figuring out where they were as wayfinding. She wondered idly about how large a role Yggdrasil’s sky-branches played in the figuring out where you were back then. In her cramped little window seat she could imagine herself finding out where she was and how to get back to Luna Nova even now. If it weren’t for international restrictions on broom-travel--put in place recently-- she could imagine herself trying to fly all the way to America. For now, she idly picked at the hot stickiness of the plastic arm of her seat. 

Amanda woke up to Jasna taking her final count of luggage, Conste had left hours before her, apparently. She was never in the good habit of packing so Jasna has stuck around to make sure she had everything she needed. The plan was for her to stay a week in the states and to come back to England the following Saturday, baring request from the International Summit she supposed. Nobody had wanted to talk about the summit or how their life might change after Barbara had spoke her mind yesterday. Instead they busied themselves making rushed plans that must have stressed out all of their families, but that didn’t stop the six of them from desperately wanting to be back home. Amanda could imagine the picture of her family, her sister should be able to fly by now at least, maybe her brother could even form a nice corkscrew.

\-- 

Airport security must have been doubled globally, probably worried someone would use the disturbance of Yggdrasil to create a tragedy. As it was Amanda was impressed that Yggdrasil hadn’t taken the world to it knees, an event like this was quite a disaster but surely routes had to be reworked. It took her just under an hour to get through security checkpoints and get her hands on her broom, from then she just slowly floated around the crowds. Usually Airports had sources of magic so it was a place Witches had always been able to do magic, flying people were easier to keep track of too. 

It was raining when she floated out of the building, but Amanda couldn’t keep her grin to herself. _She could fly the entire length of the coast_ , please, there was nothing that could come between her and a chance at that ride. The crowd shouted as she launched straight up, parallel to the highrises littered around and she let out her own excited cry. She even summoned up all her flair and did a quick double loop before shooting off toward home, on the plane she figured out the exact route she’d need to follow to not get lost. Nothing too high after she left the highrises of New York behind, follow the coastline to Vermont. 

Luna Nova and her family’s estate weren’t close enough to the sea for Amanda to have ever experienced flying sea side. She once saw an article that depicted Witches darting along a beach in Sydney but Australia wasn’t a place her family ever wanted to go. It took her five minutes to decide she liked how the sea splashed up to hit her face, that and the wind kept her spinning and laughing. She did regret how cold she was tho, but she’d have time for silly concerns like freezing to death later. Now was her time, a ride that she wouldn’t forget on her life. 

\--

On the first day she attended Luna Nova, Constanze gave her a watch that also had a GPS and perhaps a laser? She didn’t really ever figure out what the sequence for laser beam was and Constanze never showed her. It was a really well crafted watch, it even linked up to national clocks for Amanda, but of course she decided to not wear it to bother Constanze. The watch was plenty useful know though, apparently Constanze had been doing upgrades on it in her free time and Amanda had access to a map program that proved really useful. Her family’s Vermont estate was fairly inland, and she doubted she knew the surrounding area well enough from up above to figure it out. 

The ride from here became… not exactly boring--riding never was-- but her mind began to wander away from her. These days all her mind ever wandering to was the Yggdrasil incident and what happened after it, what she could have done better, what she didn’t do. It was absolutely pointless, it’s not like there was time reversal magic at her beck and call. If there was she would have made out with a lot more people, and wouldn’t have flawless grades. In that order. _“If I had just jumped off that ledge….”_ Her head raced to that moment, where she sat above Diana and Akko fussing over the cuts they had. Even in her dreams she held back, content to stay in that little dark place making sure she could act if she wanted to. Was that what content felt like? Amanda was sure she knew the definition of content, and it certainly didn’t include the pit that formed in her stomach. _“Akko and Diana are like oil and water, aren’t they?”_

She decided to drop that train of thought when she began recognizing the roads that lead into the township near her family’s estate. Roxburry wasn’t a big town, it existed on a single street but it’s people weren’t kind enough. Her family’s estate was nestled between the Warren Mt and Old Warren, just in front of the Roxbury state park. The town probably existed because of her family, they probably supplied the vast majority of the town’s economy. 

“Amanda!” A woman named Jan cried, “Welcome back, stop by before you leave!” Jan was always good for a slice of pie on a cold day. When Amanda left, Jan’s son was packing up to leave to college, she wondered how Jack was doing. They were probably the only kids that had managed to find a way out of this town, last she heard he had his sign on film or whatever. She waved at Jan and took quick turn off the Roxbury main road up to her family’s estate. 

\--

Her family made its money off of farming mostly now, but back in the day they were one of the biggest horse ranchers in the state. Her dad used to bore her with stories about how they used to have the magic and money to employ a hundred service trolls to tend to their needs. Not to say they weren’t still well off but certainly the old barn could be doing better off. She reached down to the cap of her knee to trace an almost circular scar she sported from falling off of the barn when she first learned how to fly. 

“Amandaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa” her sister called, climbing towards her on a black handled broom Amanda had given her. Ashley’s had their dad’s rounder face and freckles, but they shared the same rosey-orange hair. Amanda smiled and slowed down so her sister could catcher her, Ashley wasn’t good enough to catch her yet but was just as stubborn as she was. “You’re back!” 

“Yeah, yknow, I made some time” Amanda reached out to flip the curls in her sisters hair, “Look at you! Flying like an ace already huh?” 

“Yea’huh’n, Ty’s been showing me how, I still don’t like flying fast and low tho but he keeps saying I have to if I want to race him, says it’s too easy to fly without the chance of hitting the ground.” 

“Ohhhh, is that right? Well, first, true just stop being a baby. Second, Ty is being a baby cause he doesn’t think he can BEAT YOU IN A RACE WITHOUT SCARING HER!” Amanda raised her voice to the figure of her brother coming towards them. Ty was coming to be about as tall as her, like his sister he shared Amanda’s hair, but his features were sharper that Amanda’s. Amanda always thought he kind of looked like a bird plucked out of a rainforest or something. 

“Hey, if she can’t win then she can’t win that's just how it’s gonna be. That’s what you did to me!” 

“Really? Me? That doesn’t sound like something I would do.” Amanda could tell Ty was probably taller than her at this point, the men in her family always grew to a solid six feet. 

“Is it true you blew up a missile? The TV says you made that.” Ty pointed at one of Yggdrasil’s branches. 

Amanda smiled, “Yeah yknow, I played a part. Ain’t no thing for me, ehhh?” 

“Wow! Mom and Dad said you were coming home, but they said you’d be home late. Is it true that we can use magic without being in range of the O’neil Horseshoe? Mama says that we aren’t allowed to until some men on TV figure out what to do about it.” Ashley more vomited the questions than ask them. 

“Yeah it’s true, we can use magic without needing a source. Don’t tell Mom and Dad but, I flew here from New York right over the sea.” 

Both of her sibling’s eyes widened at her, the three of them had chatted once about what it would be like to fly over the sea. The wind her was too lazy to whip you around into a proper frenzy. Amanda pointed her chin at her brother, “Well, lemme see what you got? Figured out that corkscrew yet huh?” 

Ty grinned at her, “Watch this.” Ty shot directly upwards, making a tight little corkscrew until he could finish with a not-terrible front loop. Amanda gave a low whistle when he got back, “Yeah, I learned a couple things sis, gonna make a better rider than you yet.” 

“Ehhh you’ve still got a little bit of a ways to go before you could even touch my glory.” Amanda laughed at him. 

“Oh yeah? Prove it, catch me if you can.” Ty darted off, and Ashley smiled and gave chase. 

Amanda watched them make a graceful arc over their house proper, into the trees behind it. She always gave them a head start on chases, no fun in ending it before it began. Perhaps they had one more chase in them until she could lift that rule, Ty had the makings of a proper broom-racer. She kicked out the burning in her thighs and decided that they had enough of a head start and followed them. 

* * *

The sun had barely moved when Amanda had caught them, and they landed in a little clearing outside of the house. A quiet service troll Amanda had never seen came out to take her bags to her room for her, the trolls name was Anton. The inside of her house always smelled like shoe-shine oil and baked apples, something of a specialty her mom had. The broom closet was directly to the left in the foyer, right next to the coat rack, littered with her mom’s favorite hats. Both Ashley and Ty ran toward the kitchen in hope of snatching an apple before dinner. 

“Is that my little girl? No my eyes must be playing tricks on me again, my daughter is off taking names at a big name school in England.” Her dad came in from the den, shooting her a smile. 

“You know, I gotta come back to gloat yeah? Wouldn’t want my dad thinking he’s paying for me to party now right?” 

Her dad pulled her into a crushing hug, and Amanda felt the burning of the day's travel wash away. She blinked away bittersweet tears, and looked up at her father, “I’ve missed you, Dad.”

Her father tousled her hair, “Glad to have you back, Ace, now let's go see if we can snag an apple from your mother before the two monsters eat ‘em all.”

Their kitchen was nothing short of massive, her mother was a culinary witch from France before she coming to the states. She made her fortune now promoting a recipes site made for parents trying to get their kids to eat something that wasn’t the equivalent to a bowl of sugar. She was shorter than Amanda, with a freckled face and pale-blue eyes and she always walked like she was dancing. Right now she was swatting Ashley’s hands away from a tray of apples covered with a mountain of cinnamon and raisins. 

“Honey look, we picked up a stray.” Her dad called 

Her mom spun around and Amanda saw her eyes well up with tears. “There’s my beautiful girl, come here and let me hug you.” Her mom always hugged tighter than her dad, and Amanda always gave her a kiss on the forehead. They parted only slightly so her mom could get a good look at her, “It’s no good, they aren’t giving you enough iron over there (Amanda’s mom insisted that her hair should be more orange than rose and that it was due to food) I’ll have to make steaks sometime this week. We’ll get you back proper in no time.” 

\--

The sky was dark when her parents finally got the kids to sleep, Ashley in particular seemed to hate the concept of sleep. Amanda remembered being like that back when she was young, but she never have the idea to cast a glamour that made it appear like she was snug in bed. She thought that if she ever got another chance at life she’d take that idea and run with it, and never get in trouble again. 

Amanda’s mom put a gingko root back into a cupboard next to the doorway, gingko was the prefered herb for sleep spells these days. It had all the deepness of raspberry oil but none of the drowsiness in the morning, and it was almost probably better than a nip of alcohol. 

Amanda was sat next to her dad at their kitchen table, a service troll had put out a bowl of desserts for them to snack on if they wanted to. Her dad was busy looking through a book of all the transactions that their business had made for the day. They sat their in a comfortable silence for a while but a glance here and there told Amanda it wasn’t all fine. 

“Mom, Dad, I’m fine. I didn’t get hurt, you know that, right?”

They shared a longer look between each other, and her mom sighed and sat down in front of her. “We know, you’ve been the most capable witch we’ve ever met since the day you started casting spells. Your father and I are just worried.” She paused, “Tell us what happened” 

Amanda told them all about the Yggdrasil incident, the way the heat of magic felt, the way Jasminka had caught her in midair. She even told them about Constanze being able to cast a spell using an entirely new standard and style of magic. The only things she’d left out were what they already knew and everything about the night of that day. 

“Honey, the news is saying that you might have to testify in front of the international community about Yggdrasil? They said they are changing laws for Witches and Luna Nova. Are you even prepared for that possibility?” 

“What, you mean telling them how I fell down and wasn’t even involved with the actual battle?” Amanda chuckled. 

“Amanda, you were around a.. Well… potential terrorist for months,” Her dad said.

“Yeah, well, I’m sure I’ll be fine, I doubt I’ll get the chance to talk long before Diana comes in to steal the spotlight. Nothing to worry about for me over here, and besides I don’t think I’d count Holbrook out, she looks like she could be downright nasty if she wanted too yknow?” 

There was a pause between the three of them, and her dad took a long drink of the cold tea he had been nursing. “Amanda, you know you don’t have to go back to Luna Nova if you don’t want to, right?” 

“What? No, no! I don’t want that, trust me, I’m fine, I love it there and I love my friends.” 

“Okay, okay. We won’t make you do something you don’t want to, if you feel comfortable there then so be it. We just want to let you know that you are always welcome here, you understand? Any time you want to leave just give us a call and we will make it happen okay?” 

“I will” 

“Promise?” 

“Promise, mom, but I’m fine.”


	7. Coffee

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jasna has a coffee and a conversation with herself

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, short chapter as I am out apartment hunting. I know I keep promising the last scene of the anime will come soon in this work but we need these transitional chapters. Thanks for reading xoxox

Amsterdam looked gorgeous under the green glow of Yggdrasil, and Jasna couldn’t resist not stopping at a cafe on her way back to England. It took her a while but she found a place that was open so early, a hole-in-the wall called Lantern Oil Cafe. 

“Good morning, welcome to Lantern Oil, what can I get for you.” Her server had a long nose, and her hairline hid a section of glittering silver sigil tattoos. 

“Good morning,” she smiled, “can I get a white-chocolate mocha?” 

The mocha was good enough that Jasna could ignore the burns her tongue would sustain drinking it. The warmth of it spread through her entire body and she sat to watch the sun peek over the horizon. She took her last couple of drinking before something bursted in her mouth, it felt sweet but it put her a little ways on edge. 

“Excuse me, but what is in this Mocha?” 

“Bursting shishandraroot, grown from my own special crop. It takes the stress away and the world clears up when you drink it. My own little gift to you, enjoy.” the server disappeared behind the door to the kitchen. 

In kitchen magic, shishandra root’s properties were linked to the magic of the mind, it was used in cookies to see if your crush loved you. It was used in beers to make you sad or lonely, a scummy practice but Jasna had seen her mom make it first hand. Jasna looked at the mocha in her hand for a while “I guess a peace spell? Something to make the world clear? I should count my blessings then!” She left a tip on the counter and kicked off into the sky again. 

Her thoughts drifted to her mom, her dad passed a couple years ago so visiting home broke her heart more often than not. She found some solace in being around her sister and brother-in-love, it was so early in their marriage that air around them was still energetic. Jasna spent most of this week smiling at the two of them and hoping her mom wouldn’t break down. The first memory she could ever recall she was three and she was watching her parents dance in their kitchen. Whatever song they were dancing to she couldn’t recall but it was sultry and it was low and her parents were swaying in sheer joy. 

_And what about you_

Jasna smiled to herself and dispelled that thought before and called the melody of that song back to her head. It was a perfect tune for crossing the canal into England, she thought that it must have been about sunrises and rose petals. 

_When are you going to feel something like that ever? You haven’t even kissed a boy yet._

A frown broke across her face, a great aunt of hers had once told her that these types of thoughts were like bad songs, you always ended up sitting through them at least once. 

__

You changed the world and still haven’t felt anything real for anyone ever. 

At one point Jasna’s dad had told her to just let crushes happen, that they would soak into her bones and that would be that. It would drag you under like the tide and keep you there until you breathed your last. It worked for him, but Jasna had started to suspect that it might take a bit more than that to get what he had. 

__

Or maybe you never feel anything about anyone because you know they wouldn’t feel anything about you. You’re undesirable, an extra. 

She didn’t have enough reasoning to really reject that one so she bit down on her lip. Could she accept that? Certainly if someone was an extra it was Jasminka, she was close enough to Akko&Diana to be in a footnote but nothing more. She was sure that if she was called up infront of the international summit she’d be dismissed before she said a word. _“But maybe that's okay, I’m okay with it because they are my friends. I have friends who I love and that’s enough.”_ She followed the classic rule of always be smiling and for a while her thoughts left her undisturbed. 

__

Your friends don’t need you

Land was in sight when her head acted against her again, she shoved the thought aside forcefully by singing aloud to herself. 

_You could just slip away, unfeeling and alone and they might not even look for you._

She sang louder 

_And thats the fate you will have, this way. You fill a void of want with snacks and that keeps you from reaching out to be main cast._

Her song stopped and she blinked the tears out of her eyes, her own mind had landed a blow against her. She thought back to when the seven of them launched into the air as one, how she held back for her friends. Maybe that was what she was thinking about? Maybe if she had given her everything to that moment she could be important. _“No, this is crap, if I didnt hold back just a little Conse and Amanda wouldn’t be here anymore. I would make the same choice again”_

_Of course an extra would think that, just push of a pinnacle moment on people with some actual drive. Push it all off on someone with actual goals. No goals, no drive, and nothing that makes them feel something._

_“And what is this though even leading to, why am I thinking about this. I don’t care about my goals I just want to be around my friends and make snacks for them and just pick them up when they're down ugh”_ Jasna berated herself for vocalizing her own turmoil to an open sea. 

Her head was flooded with her memories of Amanda and Conse laughing and crying. She saw Amanda’s grief when the dragon’s bodyguards had snatched them, she saw Conse’s reluctant joy around Akko. A memory of the way Amanda always said Akko’s name with an inflection that reminded Jasna of a love song. She had a dozen-dozen memories of carrying Conse to her bed from her workshop. Her mind caught onto the way flying made Amanda look uncoiled and free, and her might lingered the longest on a vision of Amanda breaking Conse out of channeling her orange galaxy. 

_Something that makes you feel_

Jasna grins, she doesn’t know if it was the correct choice to leave a tip for that coffee or not. “Perhaps I should figure out how to put shishandra root in my drinks from now on?”


	8. Tia Freyre

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Content warning: Mentions of blood, some violence. Also angst lmao.

A thin layer of dust coated the innards of the crushed up Stanbot that was on the table before Constanze. After her unnamed incident in the library Constanze hadn’t been able to make heads or tails of if anything was able to be salvaged here. The main circuit board might be able to be repaired but it’s connection to the magic-interface core was severed and Constanze didn’t have any living-wire left to fix it. Perhaps she could gut the locomotive system, but the external damage was so much that she imagined removing it would splinter into the wires. The conundrum was so great that she had left to Hamburg and came back without any clue to how she wanted to go about it. She couldn’t very well scrap the entire project, the drain on her resources was too much to write off the entire unit. She was one, maybe two, development version away from having Stanbot go onto the market --under a subsidiary of her family’s company of course-- and she expected it to make profits. She found a small hooked screw driver she had made for specific instances like this and idly played with some of the screws on the remains of the head mount. 

_“Why did I use living wire, surely a energy channel from user would be easier, less chance of explosions as well. Less market base though because commands can’t be voice only, and Yggdrasil means no recharge station. Dad was talking about that, wasn’t he?”_ Constanze’s parents barely registered to her anymore, mostly they just talked about stuff that didn’t make sense. Boys, parties, gossip or something on her mom’s lips, and politics, memories or just plain silence from her dad. Nothing really that touched on anything that mattered, no robot talk, no magic talk, she found their lives so dreadfully dull. She only went back home because of their and Jasna’s insistence, but she found some solace, they left after a day and a half of her being back. Conse spent the rest of her time figuring out more of the new way magic worked, to get a grasp on it and apply new standards to magitech. 

It was strange, having access to so much power, whereas before she used spells to draw magic forth it was like she was doing the opposite. She felt like magic was trying to constantly leap out of her body to change the world to fit her needs, and spells where the parameters to limit the damage she could do. It scared her, it was only a week and some ago when that first channeling got out of hand. It felt like the magic was trying to hollow her out, and if it wasn’t for Amanda she’s not sure if she would have thought anymore. Probably hurt a lot though, Conse could actually feel the muscles in Amanda’s arm tear. She was a lot better at it now, she could fight against the magic pulling her under. To prove it to herself she reached out a palm and watched the same orange glow swirl around until the galaxy came back, that was important, somehow. 

She dispelled the magic as she heard someone coming the chute into the workshop, both Amanda and Jasna were spat out the metal mouth. Amanda still smelled like baked apples, apparently the states were all about those and Conse had resolved to ask her to make some. Finally she realized that the two of them were staring at her mouths agape. 

“Consee, why are you NOT WEARING PANTS” Amanda strode over to a workshop closet and tossed her a cherished pair of overalls. Clothes were a weird thing, sometimes Conse obsessed about having every inch of her body covered but sometimes she hated the concept in it’s entirety. She scowled at the clothes and almost decided to toss them aside until Jasna waved her wand, and she was suddenly very dressed. “Alright, now that we’ve got that sorted, how do you feel like getting out?? Akko has it in her mind that today is the day! She thinks she’s gonna fly today, wanna come watch her fumble it until she gets mad and ends up being whacked in the face by it??”

Constanze gave a thumbs up and affixed a Stanbot to her head and collect some needed things from around. They leave and she listens to the idle chatter between Jasna and Amanda about their families. She gives a thumbs up when Jasna asks about her trip back, the grass around Luna Nova seems somehow more green. Maybe a side-effect of Yggdrasil? Did Yggdrasil create some sort of super-nutrient that it provided to the surrounding area? Did Yggdrasil have roots and if so what would happen if they dug Yggdrasil up? The questions kept her mind spinning so much that she nearly jumped out of her skin with Jasminka put a hand to her shoulder. 

Diana’s smiles were very pretty, if Constanze put it to a vote Diana would absolutely be in the top ten. Right now she was looking at her expectantly, Constanze didn’t know why so she gave a wave and looked away. 

Diana’s gaze stayed on her for a second, “How was your trip back home, you three?” 

Jasminka chimed in, “It’s been good, it’s been too long since I was able to see my mom and sister. Even got to fly there instead of getting on a plane, Europe is so expansive, you should give it a try.” 

“Aghk! The states wouldn’tttt let me fly theree, I want to fly over the Atlantic, godd.” Amanda whined. 

“It’s probably for the best if you didn’t, a transgression like that would have been horrendous for the witch community. Plus, seem the type that would get bored halfway through the flight and be left at sea.” Behind Diana, Hannah and Barbara held back a giggle. 

Amanda frowned, “Whatever, I’ll be the first one to do the trek since Yggdrasil. You can read about how rad I am in the paper over, like, burnt coffee or whatever it you drink.” 

“I don’t drink coffee”

Amanda threw her hands up in response. The six of them walked in silence for a moment, the hill that Akko and them had picked was quite a far walk. Constanze played with the straps on her backpack and wondered why they didn’t just fly there. 

“How about you, Constanze?” Diana stared at her, Conse gave a thumbs up in response and didn’t hold eye contact. 

“Why don’t you ever talk, Constanze? It’s weird.” Hannah and Barbara said in a tone that made her ears burn red.  
Amanda grabbed Conse’s arm, stepping between her and the other three, “Ehh piss off, Conse doesn’t have to talk if she doesn’t wanna, especially not to you.” 

Hannah and Barbara breathed out hard and turned their nose up at them. Diana sighed, “You’re right, I’m sorry, Constanze. I’m glad you had a good visit with your parents, I loved to visit Germany in the past.” Such a pretty smile. 

“What about you three, do anything interesting in the last week?” Jasminka asked. 

“Oh, well nothing exciting, just trying to figure out this channelling exercise. Aaaa it’s like trying to throw a bolt of lightning and I don’t know what to do with it! At least we’ve can watch Diana do it, but I’ll be dead if Nelson adds something new to do.” Barbara groaned. 

“Figured it out Diana?” Amanda scrunched up her face. 

“Of course she did, she’s a genius.” Hannah said, eyes glittering. 

“Show us then, Diana. All we’ve got to see is Conse.” 

Diana turned to them, and they paused to watch her. The girl took a breath and closed her breath, and held her hands as if she was basking in the sunlight. For a second it looked like nothing was happening, but sure that same sheen of green energy hugged Diana’s skin. In the center of a silent green storm, sparks of icy blue began gathering into a ball. Unlike the galaxy that Conse could call up, Diana’s blue magic formed a breathtaking celtic sun. 

“‘Course” Amanda grunted as Diana dispelled the magics. 

“Mmm, I hear Akko is getting close as well.” Diana mused, “Someone to keep an eye on now, perhaps?” 

“Last time we saw her she was able to make flickers of pink, it was lovely.” 

“Mmm, I haven’t seen it yet she left too early to show me. I’ll have to have her show me, what about you Jasna? Amanda?” Diana asked. Both of the girls shook their heads in reply, and Diana looked at Constanze. 

After a sigh and some encouragement from her friends she again stretched out her palms and called up her own orange magic. Hannah and Barbara gave her a vacant stunned expression, but Diana quickly caught their mouths with a low whistle.

“Impressive results, just as I expected of you Constanze. Have you read more into the book that Nelson gave us?” 

Constanze shook her head.

“There are a lot more exercises and spells that we need to learn, a lot of them require more than one person. It would be a nice change of pace to have someone to practice with, would you be interested in joining me?” 

Joining someone else? After so much had changed with magi-tech? Was Diana out of her mind? Before Conse could shake her head no in reply, she felt Jasna grab her forearm. 

“Before you answer no, it would be fantastic practice for you, and I wouldn’t give up this opportunity.” Jasna said, “Plus I think it would give you the insight needed to understand the magic part of your magi-tech. I encourage you to give this a chance.” 

Jasna might be on the top ten list in her smiles, and Conse gave a thumbs up to Diana.

* * *

“Wind, check! Broom! Check! Date! Check! Today’s the may fair, after all!” Akko yelled, which Amanda found funny the sixth time around, too. She watched the girl close her eyes and take a deep breath. In the back of her mind, Amanda braced for a definitive moment but doesn’t let it show to anyone around her. 

****

TIA FREYRE

Akko screamed, and the bristles of her broom twitched slightly in reply but she remained rooted on the ground. _“Typical, ehhh”_ Amanda closed her eyes and leaned back in her chair, how did they even get permission to get a table and chair out here. Behind her, Diana slurped at her tea, maybe she got some service trolls to get it for her? _“Hannah and Barbara would die for the chance to get her a glass of tea tho. Maybe they are service trolls?”_ She tossed a glance at her friends, Sucy and Conse were playing some game. How did she not notice Conse pulling out a game and television? Hannah was chomping on some new pastry recipe that Jasna was very proud of; apparently Lotte had decided on a full Night Fall reread now that Barbara could gossip about it with her.

“Tia Freyre! Tia Freyre! Tia Freyreeeee!” Akko whined to her broom, making the motion to kick off.

“Yeah yeah, it’s too bad again.” Sucy said, Amanda watched Conse’s brow furrow at something on their game. 

“B-but it felt like you almost had it” Lotte turned to her friend and gave the most sympathetic look she could muster. 

“Really!” 

“Yeah, you’re definitely progressing!” 

“You think? It looked exactly the same as always to me.” Amanda teased, to which Akko threw her arms up in defiance. 

“Geez what are you even here for if you’re not gonna cheer me on?” Akko called back to her. 

Amanda heard Diana take another long sip of her tea cup and give a small disappointed sigh. Amanda couldn’t tell if it was a sigh chiding her or being disappointed in Akko, and she didn’t bother determining which it was. 

Diana spoke, “I came because of how confidently you invited me, but it seems we won’t be seeing the decisive moment.” 

Akko made a face, and Amanda could see the hints of a grin try to creep onto Diana’s face. “Well, at least the two of us aren’t going to break character or anything.” Diana made eye contact with her, and Amanda gave a grin. 

“Not so fast! I feel like today is the day!” Akko yelled out. “No, I’ll make it today for sure!” 

The waited as she fished out her ceremony hat and pull it on her head. Chariot, Holbrooke, Finnelan, Andrew Hanbridge and some blond boy she didn’t know walked quietly from over a shallow hill. Amanda cocked her brow at that group but tried to suppress the plethora of questions that came with them. She would learn what the verdict of the summit was, or how Chariot was holding up, or why the two non-student boys were even there later.

Quietly they all felt drawn to stand around Akko, Amanda’s heart raced because she knew that this was the moment. It had to be. She stood next to Diana, and waited as Akko got into proper launching position. Akko took in a deep breath. 

“Akko, you can do this. Your believing heart…” Lotte stepped out toward her friend, and they shared a smile. 

“Is your magic, right?” Sucy finished. 

“Yeah!” Akko smiled to herself, and broke into a giggle fit. _“Is the pressure of this moment really getting to her that much? Get a grip, Akko.”_

And then, just like that, Akko wasn’t standing on the ground. Amanda felt tears of pride race to her eyes, but she blinked them away. 

“Akko!” Lotte yelled.

Everyone’s gasp fell somewhere between enthusiasm and trying not to swear aloud, Amanda fought the urge to race forward and hug her friend. It was only then that Akko realized she was floating on her broom. 

“She flew” a voice Amanda didn’t recognize said. 

“YAY” Akko threw her arms up in victory and lost her voice in her own excited yelling.

\--

“Akko come on don’t be scared of a little trick” Amanda called to her friend while pointing her broom directly down, before she hit the ground she kicked the back bristles which caused her to go 180 and rocket back up. It had been an hour since Akko first flew and Amanda hadn't let her get back on the ground since. First she was gonna get Akko to learn this, and then maybe even a corkscrew. Unsurprisingly, Akko wasn’t the best flier but what she lacked in skill she made up for in lack of preservation instinct. Akko puffed out her cheeks and launched straight down, and immediately Amanda knew how badly this was going to end.

A streak of blonde catches Akko before the broom shattered on the hillside, and Diana lands a little bit away from their friends. Amanda flies to them, “Holy crap, Akko are you okay, that could have ended way worse jesus.” She walks over to the girl and puts her hand on her shoulder before being swatted away by Diana. 

“What do you think was going to happen exactly? That Akko was going to master a feat that requires years of agility training?” Diana’s voice sent a shiver crawling down Amanda’s spine. 

“Oh whatever, not like you actually give a damn anyways. It would have been, I would have rescued Akko like always.” Amanda threw her hands over her head and smirked. 

Diana closed the distance between them and spat at her face, “You weren’t even moving, you should have been more careful. At this point you’re just a danger to everyone around you.” 

“Diana, it’s okay, it was a potential accident and it’s fine now.” Akko pried Diana away from her shot her a shy smile. 

“No, Akko, it’s really not. You shouldn’t be around someone that is actually going to kill you someday. Especially when they won’t even accept responsibility for their own actions. You could have been hurt, dear.” 

A scowl crept across Amanda’s face, “Oh piss off for a minute maybe, why are you even here? You would have laughed at this literally four weeks ago, I already get enough crap from you I don’t need to deal with it now.” 

“Amanda, I invited Diana here and I invited you here and I’m not upset. It was a mistake, stop being angry and each other and let’s get back; I think Frank is about to ask Lotte out today and I don’t want to miss this come onnn.” Akko pleaded with the two of them. 

Amanda turned away from the two of them and began marching away, “Nah, I don’t think I’m gonna deal with her being around me. You can come to me from my I told you so when she pisses you off too. Peace, screw you Diana.” 

She marched away from them and past her friends a good while before she heard someone stop quick behind her. She turned around to Diana’s face, flush from running at her. 

“I don’t like you” 

“Wow, we finally agree on something” 

Both of their expressions could have curdled milk but neither stood down. 

“Just be quiet for once in your life,” Diana breathed hard, “I don’t like you, and I don’t see what Akko sees in you, but she certainly likes you. She should be angry with you but she isn’t so I’ll be angry for her, you almost just killed her tonight you idiot. I know you have a death wish but Akko has dreams, dreams that I’d like to see her fulfill.” 

“What do you mean by a death wish” 

“You meander through life with nothing, mindlessly doing the most dangerous thing that you get the impulse to do. You have no goals, you are going to squander all of this potential you’ve been given and do nothing. You see someone like Akko, who’s worked endlessly for everything she has and think, ‘hey, there’s something I feel superior around, let’s see how quickly I can ruin her.’ You aren’t Akko’s friend, you are her undoing. 

Akko balled her fists, “Excuse me? You have been friends with Akko’s for all of a day, and have bullied her throughout this entire year. Meanwhile I’ve been there being an actually decent person to her, cultivating a friendship with her and you come here thinking I’m bad for her? What does that make you, idiot? You have no idea the relationship we have with each other, now get off my back for a minute” 

“I think I know exactly the type of relationship you two have, even when you think about your future you bury anything under reckless impulse. It would be cute if you were 6, but you’re not.” 

“What the hell are you even talking about anymore?” 

“I’m talking about how you are so drive less, so destructive that even something like pining for attention puts people in the path of your death-drive.” 

“PINNING? You think I’m pining for Akko? You’ve got to be joking.” 

Diana rolled her eyes at her, furthering Amanda’s rage, how dare she use a crush against her in an argument. God, she hated this girl, what the hell was Akko even thinking, giving her stuck-up ass a chance. 

“You know what Diana, screw you, you’re going to be old news after another couple of days. You’ll be back to being friendless, except for the those two gremlins that kiss your feet and we won’t even remember this.” 

“I wouldn’t count on it” 

“You shouldn’t be so sure about that, you weren’t our friend before, you aren’t our friend now. You are a sad girl that does nothing but make others miserable who is only important because she’s a prodigy from a famous family. I’ll go back to being Akko’s best friend, and she’ll learn to fly with me and everyone will be much happier.” Amanda raised a finger and made a face. 

“Whatever, thank god I managed to saved Akko from a life of your pining.” 

“What the hell does that even mean.” 

“It means I took what I wanted because I’m not a impudent child.” 

“What” 

“I guess Akko sees the same thing I do deep down, and probably only kept you around out of pity. I guess I can respect that, but I’d stop short on the pinning because clearly it didn’t work out in your favor.” 

Amanda didn’t even register that she punched Diana before she looked down at her bleeding fist, Diana sprawled out before her. Diana looked up with murder in her eyes and Amanda felt a strong magic sap the strength of of her legs. 

“Delet!” Amanda was slammed against the side of a tree, completely unable to move her body against Diana’s grip on her. She spied her wand lying on the ground beside Diana’s feet and tried to will it towards her. The biggest regret she had though was she couldn’t move her mouth to yell some choice words. 

“Stop!” Akko tackled into Diana, pushing her to the ground. “Diana, stop, put her down this instant.” 

“I can’t, my magic won’t cooperate, courtesy of Yggdrasil, I’m too angry.” Diana seethed. 

“Then just walk away I will deal with you in a minute, honestly I am fine! This argument is stupid and you are both very stupid. Diana, just, can you take a walk or something, I don’t want Amanda to be hurt or anything.” 

“I don’t think it’s hurting her, at least I think.”

“Can you just? Okay.” The look in Akko’s eyes and the whimper of her voice got through to Diana. She stalked away, turning back once to glare daggers into Amanda. Akko walked up to her and Amanda felt the feeling come back into her body slowly. At least enough to curse and spit, and she would have if Akko’s face wasn’t so wash with concern. 

“Amanda-” 

“Are you really hers or something? Is that how it is?” Amanda cut her off, and fixed Akko with her most don’t-bullshit-me stare.

Akko hesitated, and chewed on her own words for a minute, a minute in which Amanda had sunk down the trunk of the tree. “We- we weren’t going to tell anybody we agreed, but I guess something must have slipped in the fight.” 

“WHY HER? She is a horrible person Akko, what do you even see there!?” 

“I see someone who grew on me, Amanda, and I’m not sorry for it in the least.” 

“And so what, you just completely ignore me and go after- AFTER THAT? Did you knock your head in that fight or something because that sounds like a load of shit to me.” 

“Oh, that’s, oh.” Akko stared at Amanda like one would a beat up puppy at a shelter or something which only made her angrier. “I didn’t know, Amanda, I just thought that’s how you were with everyone. I’m sorry.” 

“But you’re still with her?” 

“I’m not sorry about that.” Akko gave a sad smile. 

“Then you get away from me too.” Amanda turned away from Akko and internally screamed out her inability to get to her feet and run away as fast as she could. Akko stayed for a couple of moments, trying to figure out something to say but sensing her friend’s distress, she quietly walked away. It took a fifteen minutes before Diana’s spell wore off and she could actually walk away, she didn’t feel like running anymore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for all the hits and kudos guys! Diakko confirmed.


	9. Beds

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Content warnings: Potential phobia triggers in first chapter (i don't know the specific name for the phobia, sorry), mentions of blood & violence.

Beds  
5:42 AM - Hong Kong - Matilda International Hospital - Witch Wing

In typical morgue fashion, the lights were flickering and Li Donghai felt chilly like the air-con had been on for days. He wondered idly if the officers on his right felt the same chill or if years on the job had deadened them to these things. The back row of the morgue was set up in rows of 12 and columns of 6, as a rule witches were particular about how their remains were handled so the room was needed. Decorative runes separated each of the panel and Li lead them to body 11-4 and turned to the officers. 

“You uh, might want to look away if you’re squeamish” he pulled out the body, a man in his mid-50s. A registered Witch in the hong kong community, he worked as a culinary witch in a high-class restaurant. Although he didn’t look it now, his body would still be considered beautiful. Now though a thick green fuzz covered the insides of his arms and his chest, surgical probes had confirmed it spread deep into his body. Past records showed that he was in peak physical health, though he was past his check up date.

“Guo Ru, 56, died last night of unknown illness. Is that everything you need, officers?”

“Yeah, what can you make out about this” He gestured to the obvious. 

“We are running tests now to send your way I guess, it might be a parasite? We haven’t seen anything like this before.” Li spent the next half hour deflecting questions that would lead to foul-play being involved. There was nothing that appeared much like struggling, the skin under his fingernails was his, probably clawing at his chest to get rid of this stuff. 

“Alright, I think we’ve got all we need, keep us posted if this happens again. We will put in a notice to the CHP. Thanks again.” They officer walked out the room and Li pushed the panel back into it’s slot. 

* * *

Jasna almost thought to hazard a knock before entering her room, but it was half past eleven on a school night. She cracked the door open and peaked in, half expecting the room to be thrashed and sighed relief when it wasn’t. She opened the door the rest of the way and walked in, resting Amanda’s discarded broom next to their dresser. Constanze walked in beside her and dropped her stuff on her bed. 

Amanda. 

God, Amanda. 

Amanda sat in the middle of her bunk facing Conse, hand resting on a raised right knee, her hair was matted against the wall behind her. Jasna would see the red stain on her hand and fought the need to fuss about the wound. The impulse to try and make everything better rose up within her but Amanda was the type of person that had to ask for help before getting it. She found a change of clothes, and bundled her and Amanda’s clothes up for the hamper. Constanze and her silently went about organizing the bits and bobs Conse had brought for today. 

She heard Amanda’s low groan a good fifteen minutes later, and the girl kicked her leg out with a _huff_. Jasna gave a sad smile, and Amanda made eye contact with her for just a moment. Rather than let the silence between heavy between them Jasna started humming an idle song, and sat down to finish the knit on a blanket she was making for Lotte. Conse sat perched at the edge of her bed scrolling through her screen, trying her best to not look uncomfortable. 

Conse’s clock showed a dim red-lettered 12:00, Jasna wondered if was just better for the three of them to sleep, but she didn’t want to let Amanda go to bed angry. 

\--

Hannah wasn’t exactly a decent person, she had a nasty habit of being rude to those who were already feeling down. While Jasna didn’t like that there was no reason for them to spend a day angry, so the two of them sat in silence together. When Akko flew, Hannah looked so pale Jasna would have swore she was going to pass out. She was quite a silent girl, and definitely preferred the pastries with blueberries rather than the raspberries Jasna was taking a liking to; she’d remember that if she needed to make something for the girl. 

Diana’s anger was less demonstrative than Amanda’s anger but the aura she carried around more than made up for it. When they saw Diana’s busted open lip both Hannah and Barbara ran to her, barraging her with questions. The four of them --Conse, Jasna, Sucy and Lotte-- all looked up confused, though Jasna suspected Lotte was having a hard time pulling her attention away from Frank. 

“What happened to you?” the boy, Andrew, asked from his chair at Diana’s table. Jasna thought that Andrew looked more frumpy than handsome, as many of the Luna Nova students thought. 

“It was nothing I couldn’t handle, do not worry about it” Diana growled. 

“Diana, you’re bleeding, are you sure you’re okay?” Lotte said, pushing Frank away slightly. 

“Yes I am fine.” 

 

‘What happened?” 

“Amanda punched me.”

Jasna and Constanze shared a surprised look, just a couple hours ago their friend genuinely looked like she was having a good time. Sucy snorted and looked back at Constanze’s televisions, “Called it.” 

Jasna’s mouth opened several times but caught the words before they could get out, stuck between concern and confusion. She could feel Constanze’s eyes digging into her, the girl looked up to Jasna as a guide in these situations. Ultimately she said nothing, and opted to focus on Akko’s figure, slowly walking into view. Akko’s cheeks were flushed, a glint of anger in her eyes that didn’t reach the sad smile on her lips. A jigsaw puzzle of emotions, clearly, and Jasna wondered how on earth the girl could even manage arranging her face that way. Andrew pulled a chair out for Akko, who ignored when Lotte hummed her name. They sat there in silence, hoping Akko would be a more willing storyteller. 

Akko wasn’t the type of person to be silent for long, “Why did you do that, Diana?” 

Diana’s shoulders stiffened and she waved off the two girls still fussing over her. “Akko, listen to me, I will not apologize and I think that I did the ultimately right thing. Amanda might be a good person but she is reckless and wild enough to get everyone hurt. I know that you are her friend, but I urge you to consider the possibility to Amanda is going to drag you down. Especially at a moment in time where you need to dedicate yourself to learning your magic. You have so much potential, and the inspiring drive to achieve your dreams. I did what was needed of me so one of the most important witches on this earth can do what she needs to do.” Diana finally regained her classic composure. 

“Dianaaa. I told you that I am fine, it is my choice. You don’t have to go out of your way to protecting from someone that I don’t think is a threat. You need to trust _my_ judgement, just as others have trusted yours. You crushed her, and you betrayed my trust.” Akko’s tears came easier, and her voice cracked. 

“You didn’t have to tell her about us.” 

Jasna’s heart broke, and a heavy silence felt like it had sat on everyone around. _“They are together, Amanda’s crush with someone she despises. Oh god, she’s going to be so devastated.”_ Jasna doesn’t move, somewhere in the back of her mind she knows that Amanda is the type of person who works her anger off alone. Bittersweet memories of watching Amanda riding wildly on her broom after a bad string of exams swell in her mind. 

“I use everything in my power to make sure what I think needs to happen, happens. I apologize about telling her, but I don’t regret it. If I’ve made you too angry then I will give you the space to cool down.” Diana made to pick her things up when Akko caught her wrist. 

“She liked me, Diana. She liked me, and you knew that, and you used me to crush her.” Akko’s tears ran freely, “I can’t apologize for that. I don’t know if I even have a friend anymore.” 

Akko didn’t give the time for Diana to respond, and found her broom and flew off away from Luna Nova. Diana didn’t make a move to follow her, instead she hung her head and drew in a deep breath and resigned herself to walking towards the castle. Hannah and Barbara looked between them and their friend for a moment and decided to follow Diana. 

\--

Jasna let her shoulders slacken and she assumed the most sympathetic face she could must and turned to face Amanda. When the girl didn’t react she decided that was permission enough to crawl onto Amanda’s bed. She put her hands flat on her lap and stared at Amanda, it took less than 5 seconds for Amanda to break. 

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“I know, honey, and I don’t want you to do anything you don’t want to do. I just want to be here for you okay? We can just be quiet and you can tell us what you need.” Jasna said as softly as she could, she reached over and squeezed Amanda’s hand and made herself comfortable. She heard Amanda sigh hard but she wasn’t asked to move. Constanze made a small noise and quickly shifted her perch from the edge of her bed to the edge of Amandas bed, making sure to leave a much larger space between her and the two of them. They sat like that until Jasna felt the telltale signs of exhaustion grip her face. 

Finally, Amanda spoke, “I’m not a joke.” 

“What?” 

“I’m not a joke, I’m not unimportant. I-I matter.” 

“Yes, yes you do matter. No one thinks of you like a joke.” 

“Akko does. Diana obviously does. I wouldn’t be surprised if you two thought I was a joke, but I’m not a joke.” 

“I don’t think you’re a joke, and I know you matter. I’m sure Akko doesn’t think of you as a joke, either.” Constanze pointed her agreement with Jasna. 

“How couldn’t she?” Amanda groaned and pulled both of her legs in her chest and ran her hands through her hair. Her eyes were squeezed shut like she was trying to hold back a waterfall, Jasna did what came naturally and wrapped her in a hug. 

“Heyy, hey, I promise you she doesn’t think of you as a joke. She’s just as upset about all of this as you are, this she’s upset that you’re upset. Akko and you have a good and strong friendship, you know that’s not what she thinks of you.” Jasna squeezed tight and left her arm around her friend, and Amanda let her head fall to her shoulder. 

“I just… I don’t understand. Why Diana. Why Akko. Why would they ever be together? I don’t understand that at all. I’m wayy better. Loads better.” Amanda played with her fingers and kicked her legs out again. “She was angry?” 

“She told Diana that it wasn’t okay to use her to crush you. She said that she didn’t know if she could trust her.” 

“Oh.” 

“What are you going to do about that?” Jasna stared hard at her friend. 

“I don’t know, hard to go back to a crushed crush? Maybe?” Amanda chewed on the the inside of her own cheek. “I think I’m gonna go on a ride tomorrow. This stuff's getting on my nerves anyways” She tried to laugh, but stopped halfway through. 

A smile bloomed on Jasna’s face _“There’s our Amanda.”_ She leaned over to plant a kiss on the top of Amanda’s head, “I think that’s a lovely idea, I’ll make you some snacks, I figured out a lovely recipe with lavender seeds that I think you would like. Take a you day.” Amanda stretched and squeezed her body into Jasna’s side even harder, and pulled Jasna’s arm further around her. Jasna spoke, “Do you want to go to bed?”

“Not yet” Amanda made a low noise of happiness and closed her eyes, enjoying Jasna’s warmth. 

_THUMP_ “ACK” Amanda almost jumped out of her own skin in surprise. Conse’s head slammed into Amanda’s lap like a sandbag, and Jasna saw her make herself comfortable. “Conseee you scared the daylights out of me, don’t do that.” Amanda laughed and shifted her legs to make herself more comfortable. They stayed like that, Jasna with her arm around her friend, Amanda’s fingers tracing the lines of Conse’s head. Finally Jasna let out a whisper, “Are you good now, Amanda?” But her friends were already fast asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When will my happy Akko return to me? When will Diana get some self awareness? Doesn't matter, it's time for my three good children. 
> 
> Thanks for the support. xoxox Just a heads up, I am moving early August so updates might be more shaky.


End file.
